Some Notes On Freemasonry In Austraiasia.– –(Continued).

Bendigo , it is interesting to note was , about this time visited by the late Marquis of Salisbury , then known by his courtesy title of Lord Robert Cecil . There are now four lodges in the " Golden City " meeting in a large Masonic Hall , the main entrance to which is supported by six massive Corinthian pillars . The first , the Golden Lodge of Bendigo ,

was warranted in October , 1854 . Bro . W . C . Vahland , an initiate of the Golden Lodge as far back as 18 57 , and a Past Deputy Grand Master under the Victorian Constitution , has recently compiled a very interesting history of Masonry in the Bendigo district . It opens with the foundation of the

Golden Lodge and the curious incidents connected therewith , narrated by one of the founders , Bro . W . Scott , an American Mason , and subsequently Provincial Inspector of Victoria under the Irish Constitution , besides being now in his green old age a Past Deputy Grand Master of Victoria . The

circumstances are produced in Bro . Scott's own words : — " In the early days of the Bendigo Gokllields , before any newspaper was locally published , and even after that event had taken place , it was the universal plan adopted by the diggers , storekeepers , or anyone

who wished to bring certain facts under the notice of the public , to write on a piece of cardboard the news item desired to be communicated , which usually commenced with the stereotyped phrase , ' If this should meet the eye , ' & c .

"One clay in summer , 18 54 , while passing from the township , as Bendigo proper was then called , to Ironbark Gully , I observed nailed to an old gum tree a cardboard notice of the form already indicated , and in order no doubt to attract the attention of the initiated , an effort was made to draw the square and compasses on the corners of the document . As far as I remember the following is a correct copy : —

NOTICE . SHOULD THIS MEET THE

: i ^§ j > OF A FREEMASON , IT IS TO NOTIFY THAT A MEETING OF THE CRAFT WII . I . IIK HEM ) AT ERASER ' S STOKE . NEAR THE Iil . ACE SWAN HOTEL , ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT

, AT XI . VE I ' . M . FAIL NOT ON YOCR O . Ii . Bro . Scott proceeds : — " At the time and place indicated I attendedand

, found a number of gentlemen representing all nations , all in full dress of the period , i . c , black flannel shirt , Yankee boots with tassel in front , moleskin trousers , and patent leather belt . The ( -hop where we had assembled being closed for business for the clay , we

retired to a back room , and indulged in general conversation , all being strangers to each other . " Then there was a long hunt from house to house , and from tent to tent , for a bible , "in order to proceed regularly and properly , so as to SL-al each other ' s declaration in a

true Masonic spirit . " Amongst the founders of the lodge was Capt . Standish , at that time a Warden of the Gokllields , and subsequently Chief Commissioner of Police in the colony , and the second Provincial Grand Master of Victoria under the English Constitution .

In two short years Bro . Scott removed to Ballarat , and on resigning his membership of the Golden Lodge he was presented with a jewel which cost over . £ 150 , a very tangible evidence of the plcntitude of current coin of the realm in those halcyon clays . By the bye , on the walls of the Bendigo Masonic Hall are some interesting framed documents in the shape of old certificates , eic , the parchment ( no larger than a sheet of

note paper and the body in type ) of most interest being n warrant for a lodge in the town of Ballymena , County Antrim , signed by the then Earl of Drogheda , Grand Master ol" Ireland , and dated April 5 th , 1759 , with the number 317 . That number is now held at Doagh in the same county , and the year of constitution of the latter lodge was 1829 . It goes

without saying that it is a mystery how the old warrant found its way to Australia . The Corinthian Lodge followed the Golden Lodge four years later , and the two lodges were amalgamated in 1872 under the present title of the Golden and Corinthian Lodge

of Bendigo , and No . 7 under the Victorian Constitution . Three years after the opening of the Golden Lodge a Royal Arch Chapter was also started . The Golden and Corinthian Chapter is still nourishing , and has long been famed for the excellence of its working .

A few years prior to this , it is as well to note that an agitation was started with the object of founding a separate colony , independent of New South Wales . Matters reached a climax when the constituencies of Port Phillip refused to select members to the Upper House of New South Wales ,

a proceeding which led to the passing of the Separation Act in the Imperial Parliament , and on July 1 st , 1 S 51—ever since celebrated as Separation Day—the colony of Victoria was proclaimed .

THE HON . GEORGE COi'l'IN , PAST GRAND MASTER OF VICTORIA . The local government of Freemasonry under the English Constitution wa « , strange to say , ante-dated ten years by the

lodges under the Scottish Constitution , and three years by those under the Irish Constitution , indeed , it was not till 1857 that the English lodges were consolidated into a Province or District , the rulers being : — Capt . Andrew Clarke , R . E ., M . L . A . 18 57

Capt . Frederick Charles Standish ... 1861 Hon . Sir William John Clarke , Bart ., M . L . C 188 3 Captain Clarke , it may be explained , was a member of the Lower House of the Legislature , as well as Surveyor-General and Minister for Public Lands . At this time there were a dozen English lodges in the colony , whilst when Capt .